


Mindless Killing Machine

by Asynca



Category: Overwatch (Video Game)
Genre: Gen, Robot Philosophy
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-04-24
Updated: 2018-04-24
Packaged: 2019-04-27 06:14:44
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 702
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14419365
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Asynca/pseuds/Asynca
Summary: Based on the Zarya-Orisa interaction in game where Orisa compliments Zarya only to have the compliment spat back in her face with some nasty anti-Omnic sentiment. Orisa is an omnic - she has feelings.





	Mindless Killing Machine

Orisa wasn’t in the living room where Efi left her. She wasn’t in the kitchen washing dishes with the house autobot, either. She wasn’t even out on the balcony - somewhere she often liked to stand and observe the streets of Numbani, absorbing and processing human interaction and behaviour. It was strange; Orisa didn’t like to be alone. She was far too interested in people and usually wanted to spend every second learning and processing new data.

Efi went room-by-room to find her, eventually leaving their apartment to look in the garage (she’d always been fascinated by the data stored in the family hover car), and just when Efi was beginning to worry that she’d malfunctioned and she’d gone wandering, she noticed the door to the workshop was open. Efi was normally only allowed in there when her mother was working on a project.

There was light coming from inside. 

Gently, Efi pushed the door open and peeked in, just in case her mother was in there doing something confidential and she’d get in trouble for being nosy.

Inside, Orisa was sitting alone in the half-light of the repair station screen, plugged into the computer.

Efi heaved a sigh of relief. “Orisa, I was so worried about you!” she said, pushing the door wide open and laughing now that all the tension was gone. “I thought maybe I’d make a mistake in your programming and something had broken!”

Orisa didn’t greet her, though. She just stared forwards. “Apologies for worrying you, Efi,” she said neutrally, and that was all.

Efi’s bright smile faded; Orisa was not normally like this. She approached the repair station where she could see a percentage meter slowly ticking upwards towards 100%. Orisa was running a diagnostics program. “Is something wrong?”

“Yes.”

“Yes?” Efi turned towards Orisa, checking her over for scratches or nicks. As far as she could see, nothing was physically wrong with her. She was behaving strangely, though, for her. “Did something malfunction with your programming?”

Again, Orisa was silent.

When the diagnostics reached 100% and announced all code was functioning correctly, Orisa unplugged herself and stared forwards at the screen. It was as if she didn’t expect that result.

Efi didn’t understand. “Did something happen?”

“She called me a mindless killing machine.”

Efi’s eyebrows shot up.

“She said I was a mindless killing machine that needed to either be disabled or eradicated, and if I kept following her around like a spybot, she would destroy me herself.” She paused. “So as soon as we got home, I came here to run diagnostics, but I do not detect any unnecessary aggression in my code…”

A silence stretched between them, before Orisa finally looked towards Efi. “I only wanted to see how her gravitation surge worked. It is fascinating how the particles react so quickly and so reliably. I wanted to see the gun in action so I could analyse and replicate it. I had no intention of hurting her.” Her eyes darkened. “But she told me how she wants to hurt me.”

Efi’s chest ached for her ‘child’. Orisa was so young. She put a hand on the omnic’s shoulder joint; it was cool and smooth. “Some people will just hate you for what you are,” she said quietly. “They’ll call you names, and insult you, and accuse you of bad things. But you’re not any of the things she called you, Orisa. You’re going to protect people. You’re going to save people. The world is going to be a better, brighter place with you in it. That’s why I built you. That’s what’s in your code.”

Orisa looked down at the brushed concrete under her feet. “Perhaps we could submit my code to her, so she can see I am not a ‘mindless killing machine’.”

Efi hugged her. “I don’t think that would work,” she admitted, and then stood back up. “Come back upstairs? My tutor is going through sociology with me tonight and I know you’ll find it interesting. It will take your mind of the nasty things that woman called you.”

Somewhat reluctantly, Orisa allowed Efi to guide her back up the stairs; Efi noticed her heavy steps were even heavier than usual.


End file.
